An estate listed for $39.9 million in Old Palo Alto could smash the sale
price record for the exclusive Silicon Valley neighborhood near Stanford
University. Old Palo Alto has been home to many tech executives and
professionals, including the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. The
mansion on the 300 block of Churchill Avenue, originally built in 1917 and
recently renovated, features five bedrooms, a pool, tennis and badminton
courts, and English gardens set on 1.1 acres. (Photo courtesy of DeLeon
Realty)

An estate listed for $39.9 million in Old Palo Alto could smash the sale
price record for the exclusive Silicon Valley neighborhood near Stanford
University. Old Palo Alto has been home to many tech executives and
professionals, including the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. The
mansion on the 300 block of Churchill Avenue, originally built in 1917 and
recently renovated, features five bedrooms, a pool, tennis and badminton
courts, and English gardens set on 1.1 acres. (Photo courtesy of DeLeon
Realty)

An estate listed for $39.9 million in Old Palo Alto could smash the sale
price record for the exclusive Silicon Valley neighborhood near Stanford
University. Old Palo Alto has been home to many tech executives and
professionals, including the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. The
mansion on the 300 block of Churchill Avenue, originally built in 1917 and
recently renovated, features five bedrooms, a pool, tennis and badminton
courts, and English gardens set on 1.1 acres. (Photo courtesy of DeLeon
Realty)

An estate listed for $39.9 million in Old Palo Alto could smash the sale
price record for the exclusive Silicon Valley neighborhood near Stanford
University. Old Palo Alto has been home to many tech executives and
professionals, including the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. The
mansion on the 300 block of Churchill Avenue, originally built in 1917 and
recently renovated, features five bedrooms, a pool, tennis and badminton
courts, and English gardens set on 1.1 acres. (Photo courtesy of DeLeon
Realty)

An estate listed for $39.9 million in Old Palo Alto could smash the sale
price record for the exclusive Silicon Valley neighborhood near Stanford
University. Old Palo Alto has been home to many tech executives and
professionals, including the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. The
mansion on the 300 block of Churchill Avenue, originally built in 1917 and
recently renovated, features five bedrooms, a pool, tennis and badminton
courts, and English gardens set on 1.1 acres. (Photo courtesy of DeLeon
Realty)

Take the nice vacant lot with the for sale sign on Bryant Street near Coleridge Avenue.

It’s carpeted with redwood duff, ivy and oak leaves, surrounded by a clean, white concrete wall and proper Old Palo Alto neighbors in one of the Silicon Valley’s most desired neighborhoods.

“People are looking at the price tag and saying ‘Oh, my goodness, $9 million for nothing?” said agent Adam Touni. “That’s what’s throwing everyone. This is actually par for the course.”

It’s true. The estate next door is going for $20 million. Around the block, a former Facebook executive is offering his one-acre compound for twice that.

The rush of tech expansions, strong stock prices and hoped-for IPO windfalls has the top-end of the Bay Area economy accelerating like a Tesla in ludicrous mode. The Old Palo Alto neighborhood of leafy, century-old estates — former home to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, current home to Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page — has become a hive of real estate selling and buying.

Five recently-listed compounds in the community just a mile from Stanford University are asking between $11 million to $40 million, according to Zillow data.At the low end, an 880-square foot, two-bedroom is priced at $1.9 million.

But will the mansions with eight-figure price tags be even too rich for Bay Area titans to snap up?

Luxury home sales in the Bay Area have been soft since the market peaked about 12 months ago. Buyers searching in the top end of the market are typically homeowners, and are willing to wait for a home that meets a strict list of trade-up desires, agents say.

That has helped push down the number of homes in Santa Clara County selling for more than $2 million by 30 percent, year-over year, in the first two months of 2019, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic.

The 94301 zip code covering Old Palo Alto and surroundings regularly makes the top ten list of most expensive communities in the country. Since January 2018, at least 26 homes have sold for more than $4 million in the neighborhood, according to real estate data firm MLS Listings. In the last decade, the median sale price has ranged from $1.9 million in 2010 to a peak of $5.4 million in 2017, and is $3.9 million this year.

Many of the homes were built in the first part of the 20th century through World War II, as Stanford University was expanding its scope and reputation.

“Old Palo Alto is really special,” said Michael Repka, CEO of DeLeon Realty. The neighborhood appeals to younger tech executives for its proximity to restaurants and shops in downtown Palo Alto, as well as its highly-regarded public schools, he said.

It also has the cache of being home to tech pioneers and celebrities, and, he added, it’s a less pretentious address than nearby Atherton, an enclave of newer, exclusive and gated estates.

DeLeon is the agent for the $39.9 million listing on the 300 block of Churchill Avenue, a five-bedroom estate that was built in 1917 on a 1.1 acre lot and now is owned by former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta, according to public records and the website Socketsite.

It features a recent Tudor-inspired remodel of the 11,000 square foot space, along with an ample wine cellar, outdoor fireplace, badminton and tennis courts, and an English garden that beckons for entertaining and deal-making.

Several blocks from the Churchill Avenue estate, the vacant lot on Bryant Street doesn’t even boast a roof beyond the shelter of craggy oak trees.

A local family has owned the empty, 11,000 square foot property since the early 1970s, Touni said. The family had intended to develop the property, but plans never went beyond a concrete wall and wooden fence.

After the elderly mother died, the sole heir chose to sell. It took workers two weeks to clean the property of ivy and thick underbrush — and a few empty beer cans in a darkened corner away from the road.

The clean up revealed a circle of soaring redwoods, and a sturdy, five-foot diameter old growth oak stretching over a quarter of the property. Touni and his real estate firm, The Resolve Group, met with city officials, architects and arborists to ensure the site was suitable for a single family home.

“What makes this lot special is that nothing has been built on it,” Touni said. City historic preservation rules in the neighborhood can hinder major renovations on existing homes, so new buyers can be stuck with features they find unattractive.

The agency enlisted a local architect to draw up sample plans for a modern home on the site — preserving the old oak tree and redwoods. Touni believes the property could hold a 6,000 square foot home, including a 2,000 square foot basement.

He estimated the construction costs would reach $6 to $7 million, pushing the total project costs to $15 to $16 million. For that price, expect a collection of bedrooms and suites to comfortably fit a family, a three car garage, workout room, wine cellar and sunken backyard patio.

The project timeline — given rigorous Palo Alto approval, contractor and worker demand, and inevitable design changes — is about two years, he said.